News

Greetings to alumni and friends

Author: Gerry Scovil '65, MS 68

Posted: November 1, 2007

AS A FORMER grade school principal and administrator, fall has always been an exciting time&mdash;one of new beginnings, opportunities, and challenges. But before looking ahead, I want to take a moment to look back. Last year, your University and Alumni Association accomplished a lot. Here are a few highlights:

The strong efforts of Portland State administrators and faculty and the hard work of the PSU Advocates led to a successful conclusion for higher education in the Oregon Legislative session. With an 18 percent increase in higher education funding, deferred maintenance will begin on high-need facilities such as Lincoln Hall and Science Building 2. A new allocation for the Academic and Student Recreation Center (which will also house the School of Social Work, among other things) also shows that PSU fared well. We hope this is just the beginning of state reinvestment in higher education.

The Alumni Association launched a new membership program, designed to bring interested alumni closer to the University and to provide benefits and services for those alumni. Our program has been incredibly well received, and you can read about those members elsewhere on these pages.

We continued to connect with you, our talented and interesting alumni in Portland, around the country and the world. Last year we met with alumni in Boise, San Francisco, Palm Springs, Pendleton, Eugene, Salem, Saudi Arabia, and at Intel in Hillsboro. We also connected with our younger alumni through a variety of activities and will continue to reach out to that group.

So thanks to all of you who helped with the legislature, signed up to be members, and participated in events and activities with and in support of the University.

Challenges ahead include finding a new president for the University, continuing to secure both government and private funding to advance Portland State, and reaching out and connecting with our 113,000 plus alumni around the world! We have planned alumni events such as PSU Weekend in Portland, and others in San Diego, New York, Seattle, Bend, and in several locations around the world. I personally look forward to meeting many of you, or to hearing from you. You may contact me at gscovil@comcast.net.

Gerry Scovil '65, MS '68
President, PSUAA

Membership by the numbers

4,836: Distance in miles from PSU campus to our life member in Tokyo, Japan

128: Membership cards mailed during our single busiest day of member fulfillment